The properties of purified mammalian adenosine 3':5'-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP)- and guanosine 3':5'-cyclic monophosphate (cGMP)-dependent protein kinases were compared. Several physical characteristics of the two enzymes were similar, including size, shape, affinity for cyclic nucleotide binding, and K(m) for ATP. In addition, the amino acid composition of the two proteins indicated a close composition homology (70-90%). Both cyclic nucleotide-dependent protein kinases catalyzed phosphorylation of rat liver pyruvate kinase (EC 2.7.1.40) and fructose 1,6-diphosphatase (EC 3.1.3.11), rabbit skeletal muscle glycogen synthase (EC 2.4.1.11) and phosphorylase b kinase (EC 2.7.1.38), and calf thymus histone H(2)b. The phosphorylation of several synthetic peptides and of trypsin-sensitive and trypsin-insensitive sites in glycogen synthase suggested similar recognition sites on the protein substrates for the two kinases. The cAMP-dependent protein kinase was the better catalyst with each protein or peptides substrate. The results suggest that the two enzymes evolved from a common ancestral protein.